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Just a question: Do Component Protection issues arise with test-bench polling and if so, do you have any tips for a rank-amateur?
Don

In my case, not a concern since I'm working with Immob2 and Immob3 generation modules. But I'd say Component Protection would become an issue on a bench top pretty quickly on the newer generation of modules that have that feature.

The only way I'd know to get around it... take the rig to the dealer and use drunk ODIS and fake it. I used my first bench top rat's nest rig to with drunk ODIS and got the PIN out of a Immob3 ECM.

^^ Jeff: thanks again for the response:. Although I'm not surprised by your answer, I was hoping that somehow there was a way (on a test-bench set-up) to "trick" the CAN gateway into believing that the test module had been previously registered with it. My immediate interest is MQB platform modules and as you know, the CP "constellation" for this platform is not insubstantial (plus-for MQB, it appears that all the interesting modules are captured by CP-damn!). The thought of having to "get down on bended knee and beg" (this is the appropriate phrase down here because many VW dealers simply refuse do these tasks unless they fit the modules as well) and to pay a dealer for this task is deeply distressing! Hmmm............... don't tell Uwe, but I might need to investigate the CP capabilities of the "other cable"!

CP is IMO not a big deal when it comes to a bench setup. If you truly need matched control modules, that can be overcome by putting them in a suitable car or even by hooking the bench setup to SVM/GeKo but really, CP doesn't block any diagnostic functionality in the first place and so doesn't the immobilizer in most cases.

Personally to keep things flexible, and simple for immediate fast expansion on a daily .........
I use an OBD2 break out box with lit LED com identifiers, and switchable pull up resistors.

All with serial and banana plugs ........switchable, ground 15 and 30 or even wake. ( comes in handy depending on what sate of probing you are actually doing )
Sometimes to add fast expansion I plug two or more break out boxes.

The lit LED breakout is the shit, because it lets you know what you have com on K or CAN and sometimes I add a tail end logger.

CP can be initiated/adapted on the bench with or without GeKo/ODIS online connections......further, termination resistors are a handy thing, especially when looking to meet a simulated criteria in the car...... on the bench.

Personally to keep things flexible, and simple for immediate fast expansion on a daily .........
I use an OBD2 break out box with lit LED com identifiers, and switchable pull up resistors.

All with serial and banana plugs ........switchable, ground 15 and 30 or even wake. ( comes in handy depending on what sate of probing you are actually doing )
Sometimes to add fast expansion I plug two or more break out boxes.

The lit LED breakout is the shit, because it lets you know what you have com on K or CAN and sometimes I add a tail end logger.

CP can be initiated/adapted on the bench with or without GeKo/ODIS online connections......further, termination resistors are a handy thing, especially when looking to meet a simulated criteria in the car...... on the bench.

JacK : Even more good ideas - thanks for the suggestions!

Is the LED box a commercial product? Sounds like it's something that I could build, but I would need to understand more about the loading limits for a CAN bus. As a preliminary solution (if I need to "see" if there is comms happening), I was hoping that I could use my trusty oscilloscope. I fully expect that my CRO won't be able to see the actual high/low states of individual pulses , but I'm hopeful that I can make-out the general activity on the comms lines in sufficient clarity to confirm that the test module is in discussion with the CAN gateway. Do you think that I'm being too naive?
Don

Does it's prove my "DubNurd" status, that I REALLY want to do this, but don't really have any use for it currently?

I like this thread.

I have pretty much the whole car loom from the A3 donor, so have all the OEM connectors. It'll be YEARS before I get a round to it though

NZDubNurd: I'm reminded of the title to the old skyhooks song (I'm sure that you guys across the ditch have heard of skyhooks) - "Nurd" is not a dirty word!

Don

PS: remember - carp diem. My philosophy: it's important to feed and to nourish the inner nurd (the nurd and the opposable thumb is what separates us from the apes!- heaven help us all if the simian race ever learns how a CAN bus works!)

I kind of stumbled upon using an OBD breakout box linked to VCDS out of curiosity. I have been investigating CAN messages from various control modules within the A8 D3 platform and next on my list was to capture live messages on the CAN BUS between the J533 Gateway and J285 Instrument Cluster. Studying the current flow I noticed the CAN wires had a spur to the OBD connector (pins 3 & 11), which makes it easy to connect to my CAN analysing hardware via a breakout box.

Anyhow, since I had the breakout box I wondered if VCDS could communicate with the Gateway and whatever various other modules I had connected via CAN to the gateway on the bench, and yes VCDS works perfectly on the bench.